I think it's so sparkly that someone halfway around the world in the middle east just ran to the computer to wish someone in rhode island a happy birthday.

Don't mean to depersonalize it, but sometimes I am struck by the wonder that is the internets.

Nilly, Perkins has posted some belated pictures of your trip in F2F.

Also some previously unseen LA F2F pix.

I am sorry for not closing a tag.

Now, EAT IT!

Now, EAT IT!

Mmmm, Blue.

Msbelle, I told Tom Scola to give you my warmest regards today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DX!!!

(I'm not brave enough to risk any colors after the color-kerfuffle upthread...)

Don't mean to depersonalize it, but sometimes I am struck by the wonder that is the internets.

I spent the shabbat with 2 of my rooommates in our apartment, and right when it ended, I ran out to the university to where the computer talks with the rest of the world. One of them - the new one, I only know her for a couple of weeks - called me crazy for running to where I work so quickly, and I wasn't sure how to explain to her that I want to wish a happy birthday to a friend. I didn't know how to explain 'my' internet to her.

Perkins has posted some belated pictures of your trip in F2F

Oh, thanks for that!

Perkins said that she took a picture of me sleeping, and now I know how it looks like. Of course, had I known how Ozzie (is that the one? Am I confusing it with Perkins-the-cat, which is not to be confused with Perkins-the-person?) stared when I did it, I probably would have woken up, startled.

Oh, what lovely memories. Just on Thursday, a friend (one of the three who followed the trip not only through my e-mails but by lurking around b.org) asked me when I'm planning to go visit with you guys again.

Thanks David.

ita, I got the second package before my trip. thank yew.

msbelle, I'm going to put your aprons and gloves in the mail this week. Thanks again for lending them to me!

Are we in a vortex of space-time?

We'll soon know the answer: A NASA/Stanford physics experiment called Gravity Probe B (GP-B) recently finished a year of gathering science data in Earth orbit. The results, which will take another year to analyze, should reveal the shape of space-time around Earth--and, possibly, the vortex.

Time and space, according to Einstein's theories of relativity, are woven together, forming a four-dimensional fabric called "space-time." The tremendous mass of Earth dimples this fabric, much like a heavy person sitting in the middle of a trampoline. Gravity, says Einstein, is simply the motion of objects following the curvaceous lines of the dimple.

If Earth were stationary, that would be the end of the story. But Earth is not stationary. Our planet spins, and the spin should twist the dimple, slightly, pulling it around into a 4-dimensional swirl. This is what GP-B went to space to check.

Steph, no problem, happy to help out.